How to Make Your Food Photos Foodgasmic! (5 min read)

Where are my food bloggers at? Ok, how many of you don’t have a professional camera to capture your foodtastic moments? Yeah me neither. We don’t have time to talk about broke college student life. The struggle.. but I digress. Let’s say that you’re patrolling the blogging world or Instagram and you come across some serious #foodporn. Now you might think, they HAVE to be using a Canon or something right? Not necessarily!

Here is a photo that I took with my Galaxy S5: (If possible I have a watermarked photo to insert here).

Although a professional camera might seem like a must have for all food bloggers, maybe you’re just starting out and you’re not quite ready to make such an investment. But does that mean that you can’t have drool-worthy photos?

Absolutely not! Here are some tips for my fellow smartphone wielders who want to crank out some foodgasmic photos! (These tips can be used for any blogger that utilizes photos!)

1. Lighting is everything. You’ll come to see that lighting can make or break your photos. I’ve had several instances when the food itself looked beautiful but the picture failed to capture the beauty because the lighting was poor.

So do your best to utilize good lighting! If you are outside or are in a very well lit location then this should be easier. But try to…

2. Play with angles. Angles can make a big difference. Think about top views, table views, etc. If you have multiple pieces of food, do you want to show us the whole plate or is there a food star that should be the focal point?

Spin that plate around and give it that Top Model treatment. Lighting and angles go hand in hand. Sometimes one angle has better lighting than another.

3. Get in there! Some of the best photos have the “eater” in them. I’m not saying you have to show your face or anything, that’s up to you! What I mean is, let us see you holding your ice cream cone.

If some ice cream drips on your hand, perfect! Ask your friend to take a picture of your hands holding that juicy burger. Not only does it make your photo more fun and personal, we might be able to get a more “actual size” view.

If you have some ooey gooey cheese action going with your pasta, grab your fork and stretch out that cheese!

4. Consider using filters. Some filters really don’t do anything for food photos. But there are some that can really brighten up an otherwise dull looking photo. Try to go for the more natural looking ones so that the beauty of your photo isn’t lost.

BUT…

5. Filters aren’t ALWAYS necessary! I think that sometimes we can get a bit filter happy. Yes, sometimes filters can do wonders for your food photos. But try not to rely on them.

Remember, you want your pictures to look as detailed and realistic as possible. We want to be able to see the grease shimmying off that slice of bacon. We can’t see that when you’re using that Sepia filter now can we?

If your original picture doesn’t have the best lighting, try playing with the brightness, highlighting, sharpness, and shadows. Besides, we all know the pride that comes from #nofilter!

6. Stand out. Let’s say you have multiple dishes on the table but you want to highlight one particular dish. Focus in on that dish so that the foreground or background is just a little bit blurred. Not only is it artistic, it serves a purpose. This technique makes your star dish stand out!

From time to time we get lucky and we take a great photo without even trying. But don’t be lazy! We have to work at consistently taking foodgasmic photos. This doesn’t just happen magically! Sometimes it takes a couple of shots to get it just right. Don’t worry about being THAT person in the restaurant that won’t eat until they get that perfect picture. I’ve stopped a table full of friends from eating more than a few times. Yes they’ve teased me but they’re used to it by now! Besides, they can starve for a few more minutes right? For the blog!

I hope that these tips can help you take your photos from ho-hum to yum!